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Starting a pedal company, suggestions?
- Thread starter crockb
- Start date
If you want to turn the bass world upside down build the crossover splitter blender with a proper footswitching phase flipper.
Some distortion and fuzzes come back out of phase to the low pass, others don't. If you have both, when the wrong one is on you get the crossover frequencies dropping out like a notch filter.
I have a Rolls sx21 crossover and a giant 3 channel blender to do what one cunning box could do. I use the spare blend to flip the polarity.
Some distortion and fuzzes come back out of phase to the low pass, others don't. If you have both, when the wrong one is on you get the crossover frequencies dropping out like a notch filter.
I have a Rolls sx21 crossover and a giant 3 channel blender to do what one cunning box could do. I use the spare blend to flip the polarity.
Personally, less interested in the outside than the quality of the construction.
Have a look at JohnK_10's gutshots, so purty
Short answer: YES! People care about the looks.
Long answer: Yes, if I pay top dollar for a boutique pedal, it not only has to sound good, do things other (big brand-) pedals can't do, customer service has to be top notch (I know that if I buy from a big brand company, that I am just a number. I don't want to have that feeling when I am dealing with a boutique builder) AND it sure has to look good.
The boutique market is a tough world.
Examples of good boutique brands (IMO) are FEA labs and sfx. (Disclaimer: I have not had any direct contact with these companies but I have seen their behaviour on Talkbass and Basschat. And I own a FEA Dual Distortion)
bongomania
Commercial User
I don't know if you were looking at a post or two here from somebody gruffly saying "I don't care if it looks like a turd, as long as it sounds good"--but that view is a tiny minority. Most consumers buy with their eyes.
What's good looking is in the eye of the beholder ... I think kid painted boxes and even raw aluminum is a bit of an aquired taste, not to mention pictures of bandaged private parts 
, but yes, it's surely a very small minority that don't care at all about the looks. If something sounds exceptionally good I may tolerate bad looks, but there are always limits.
EDIT: Another aspect, important to me, is the size and layout of the pedal. No funny shapes please, and try for practical jack positions, preferrably all jacks top mounted for a smaller footprint on the pedalboard.
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, but yes, it's surely a very small minority that don't care at all about the looks. If something sounds exceptionally good I may tolerate bad looks, but there are always limits.EDIT: Another aspect, important to me, is the size and layout of the pedal. No funny shapes please, and try for practical jack positions, preferrably all jacks top mounted for a smaller footprint on the pedalboard.
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Personally, less interested in the outside than the quality of the construction.
Have a look at JohnK_10's gutshots, so purty
i am waiting for his company to get started
On the topic of looks vs function I think Iron Ether got the correct balance with the etched look but still a simple design. The natural imperfections of the paint give them just enough complexity IMO.
Personally, I'd take a cue from sabine's short lived NexFX series. Clean/wet outputs, lighting for the knobs, quick access to the battery, the option to daisy chain, well constructed...there were a lot of things that would benefit the live player...I'd start there and see what people actually want, and then get creative off that.
I'd say be sure to make whatever you do stand out from the others. Give them a wow factor (to quote Tim Gunn. )
Just some ideas from someone who only has a few pedals anyway.
- Personally I love when pedals have a clean blend. I wish my small stone had one.
- Add expression pedal capabilities. I'd love a fuzz that let me alter sustain with a pedal as I'm playing.. Maybe have a switch that lets you use the pedal to control any of the settings that have knobs. (This would make any pedal double as a volume pedal as well!)
- Add internally switchable bybass/buffer? Do any pedals offer this? Is it possible/needed? I see people usually want true bybass but also they may need a buffered pedal.
- Switch that was 'on' only when I was stepping on it and turned off when I lifted my foot - that way I can enable the effect only during short passages without stomping-on/stomping-off. (Can also then stutter the effect... could be cool.
- Lighting pedal. A pedal that has lights on it, somehow pointed to the side (not straight up) to light your board. (Maybe I'm stretching for ideas now.)
)Just some ideas from someone who only has a few pedals anyway.
- Personally I love when pedals have a clean blend. I wish my small stone had one.
- Add expression pedal capabilities. I'd love a fuzz that let me alter sustain with a pedal as I'm playing.. Maybe have a switch that lets you use the pedal to control any of the settings that have knobs. (This would make any pedal double as a volume pedal as well!)
- Add internally switchable bybass/buffer? Do any pedals offer this? Is it possible/needed? I see people usually want true bybass but also they may need a buffered pedal.
- Switch that was 'on' only when I was stepping on it and turned off when I lifted my foot - that way I can enable the effect only during short passages without stomping-on/stomping-off. (Can also then stutter the effect... could be cool.
- Lighting pedal. A pedal that has lights on it, somehow pointed to the side (not straight up) to light your board. (Maybe I'm stretching for ideas now.)
- Jun 25, 2006
- 3,226
- 341
- Disclosures
- Owner, Pike Amplification & 3Leaf Audio
Ive been wanting to say this FOREVER
if your pedal is super versatile , MAKE SOME KIND OF SWITCHABLE PRESET. I hate only using a third of a great pedals capacity just because im not a knob tweaker..
On a similar note: before you add too many options to a simple/distinct sounding pedal, decIde if you should keep it cheap and distinct, and release a 2nd 'deluxe' version
Do these things!
if your pedal is super versatile , MAKE SOME KIND OF SWITCHABLE PRESET. I hate only using a third of a great pedals capacity just because im not a knob tweaker..
On a similar note: before you add too many options to a simple/distinct sounding pedal, decIde if you should keep it cheap and distinct, and release a 2nd 'deluxe' version
Do these things!
There are plenty of pedals I have avoided because of looks.. I know its stupid, but coincidentally all of the pedals I like look good.
I don't care if it looks crapppy or industrial, I just hate cartoon pedals and I hate pedals that look too futuristic or faux industrial; I HATE how DOD digitech etc look. FEA, markbass, 3leaf all look great! Oh and iron ether!
This is all taste of course, but id say an objective lesson is that plain industrial looks good and saves cash; if you decorate keep it simple, use good design principles. Xtreme fonts and crazy images scare off certain crowds. If you etch, it needs to be dirty chaos or amazing perfection: the stuff in between either looks like you failed or worse, they're unreadable.
And don't be afraid to venture into really simple, passive pedal territory. Some of these true bypass loopers the big guys sell could be undercut easily by $20-40, and still have room for profit.
